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MAIN DRIVERS

TOPIC: WHAT HAS BEEN THE DRIVER OF TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS IN THE SOFTWARE SECTOR IN GHANA Yeboah Sraha ASST. Human Resource Director, Affiliated Computer Services, Ghana. MAIN DRIVERS. Enabling environment Government Initiatives Improved macroeconomic environment Demand for software products

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MAIN DRIVERS

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  1. TOPIC:WHAT HAS BEEN THE DRIVER OF TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS IN THE SOFTWARE SECTOR IN GHANAYeboah SrahaASST. Human Resource Director, Affiliated Computer Services, Ghana

  2. MAIN DRIVERS • Enabling environment • Government Initiatives • Improved macroeconomic environment • Demand for software products • Availability of skills

  3. ENABLING ENVIRONMENT • Good Governance • Four consecutive democratic elections since 2000 • Freedom of speech and association. • Establishment of commercial and fast track courts • Business confidence is high & soaring among Corporate Executives. • Ghana is seen as the 9th most attractive place to do business in Africa and the 1st in the West Africa region.

  4. ENABLING ENVIRONMENT Cont. • Improved Macroeconomic Environment • Between 2000 and 2005, economic growth increased from 4 to 6%; inflation dropped from 40 to 10%; the cedi depreciation fell from 50 to below 2 %. • Private remittances increased from about $600m in 2000 to $ 4.7 b February 2006.

  5. ENABLING ENVIRONMENT Cont. • Government Initiatives • Developed a comprehensive Ghana ICT Policy – 2003 • Introduction of e-learning in schools & colleges. • In collaboration with Microsoft and Intel, the government has produced an assembled PC in Ghana called ‘Discover’ which sells at an affordable price of $300. This is in pursuance of a program known as ‘Ghana digital inclusion computer-based program for all’. The program is meant to promote the usage of PCs by the less endowed citizens in Ghana. • Expansion of ICT infrastructure eg. Fiber Optics & Broadband

  6. GHANA’S IT SECTOR • The sector started evolving in the early 1990s. • Currently there are about 10 software companies of varying sizes. • The sector’s customers are Ghanaian businesses and firms in the sub region. • The sector’s development was promoted by Ghanaians both within and without.

  7. DEMAND FOR SOFTWARE PRODUCTS • Growth of Ghanaian businesses • Businesses desiring to enhance efficiency and reliability • Desire to reduce waste through a reduction in headcount.- • Businesses desiring to accurately gather business intelligence/analysis which forms the basis for growth of businesses.

  8. AVAILABILITY OF SKILLS • Growth of ICT training institutions in Ghana • NIIT • IPMC • Kofi Annan ICT Training Inst. Etc. • Relocation of Ghanaian ICT professionals from abroad. • Knowledge transfer by multi-national companies in the country. • Organization of ICT-related workshops and seminars to promote ICT development in Ghana by ICT companies.

  9. ROLE OF LOCAL & FOREIGN FIRMS • They are designing custom made soft wares for their own use and also for other companies in and outside Ghana. • Offering training programmes for Ghanaians. • There is a limited collaboration between some foreign training institutions and local software professionals through the sharing of information & best practices to grow the sector. • The sector is very small with high concentration in Accra; the sector is however increasingly growing. There is a huge demand locally which has not been fully exploited. • Limited presence of foreign software companies.

  10. CASE STUDY 1:OUTSOURCING (ACS) • Has increased employment from 60 employees in the year 2000 to 1926 employees as at April 2006. About 3,110 percentage increase. • The company processes about 30,000 claims per day. • There has been a lot of knowledge transfer within the company. The IT Manager has received a lot of training in the US about soft ware development and he has equally trained his team. • The company has been able to instill good working ethics within the workforce ie time management, productivity etc. • Pays premium salaries and benefits. Our payments are very competitive in the market. • Provides a number of business linkages for auxiliary organizations.

  11. CASE STUDY 2: TELECOM • The telephone penetration rate is improving steadily. The number of people using both cell phones and telephones increased from about 250,000 in 2001 to about 3million in 2005. • The sector is offering a lot of jobs for the youth e.g Mobile phone to mobile phone services • Provides a lot of business linkages in the economy especially advertisements and sponsorship programmes. • The establishment of a Technology University by Ghana Telecom

  12. CONSTRAINTS TO THE SECTOR • The Ghanaian market is not large enough to support software development which is mainly capital intensive and strives on economies of scale. • Inadequate number of professionals to support the rapid development of the sector. • Lack of standards in the market to ensure that products are of the required quality acceptable to consumers. • Lack of financial support to ensure the rapid development and deployment of software in the economy. • Lack of R&D to feed the sector

  13. THE WAY FORWARD • Government needs to sponsor software houses to promote the development of quality software solutions for Ghana and the sub region. • Offer scholarships for IT related courses and ensure that a critical mass of IT professionals are trained within a specified period. Should replicate the Kofi Annan ICT center in all regions. • There is the need to establish a strong R&D outfit to provide modern technologies and competitive information to the sector. • Vigorous provision of ICT infrastructure across the country.

  14. Con’t • Government needs to provide logistical support for software companies that are exporting solutions to other countries. • There should be special tax incentives for ICT companies. • Government should patronize the products of the local developers and challenge them to develop solutions that address current development needs. • Government should quicken the development of the technology park development project.

  15. SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES BEING USED BY GHANAIAN FIRMS • Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Access etc.), Oracle, ,Microsoft Navision, Coral Draw, IBM DB2, Open Source: MySQL, Linux • LOCAL SOFTWARES - • Human Capital Management – • Investment Management Software - Asset/Portfolio Management Software, Mutual Fund Management Software • Accounting Software, • Manufacturing Supply Chain- Accountmate Manufacturing, Persol Retail Manager, Persol Mobile Sales force, Inventory Management • Hospitality Management Software-Front Desk Manager, Restaurant Manager, Call Manager

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